January 24, 2006
Palestinian ElectionsI just wanted to share an article from the New York Times that felt much more balanced than usual. Expresses the stakes of the upcoming election question well, I thought: Palestinians Set for Vote and Big Shift.
posted by Adam at 23:00 |
January 22, 2006
Fighting Demons from Within and WithoutLast night was the second night my one roommate had a bunch of people over late. This one was much worse. The smell and the noise, I've been able to deal with. But I was looking forward to coming back to the newest Battlestar, which wasn't a possiblility. I cruised the web, waiting for it to end and waiting for it to end. By my estimation it wrapped up somewhere between four and four-thirty am.
That would have been bad enough. But after waking up each morning since I've been back to pounding bass from the floor above, last night they start in with it even louder at three o'clock in the morning. And they added jumping up and down to the beat to the mix. I remembered that my headphones had a limited noise-cancelling effect and that with the volume cranked allowed me to block it out long enough to watch "Battlestar". When "Battlestar" was over, the place was still lit up but it was quiet enough to go to bed.
So I got to bed at 4:30 when previously since getting back I had been in bed every night before 3 am and up by 10:30. When coming back, I had been prepared for the status quo. Instead I have escalation, with greater problems with in the apartment and new problems with the neighbors above.
That in and of itself would be bad enough. But on top of it, I spent the day feeling sorry for myself, slowly building myself up to a depression. A lot of the R.I.T. tendencies I had spent the last semester slowly ridding myself of popped right back up. Now that I'm obsessively listening for the slightest disturbance, it becomes a self-fufilling prophecy. I've gone from just biding my time with the "alright" existence that entails to running a marathon to the end. I forgot what it felt like to be depressed - it sucks - and it's going to make the next fourteen weeks feel infinitely longer. Why can't I just let shit go?
posted by Adam at 23:10 |
January 16, 2006
On the Verge of Going BackAs I sit here at the slightest beginning of Martin Luther King Day, I have just gotten over the WebCT mix-up that threatened to throw my whole semester into disarray. Assuming that it's WebCT that's messed up and not my schedule, I feel better just for being better off than what I'd expected. Thinking back on my most excellent, diverse, and enjoyable winter break, I think the reason I am dreading waking up in several hours is because I've been gone just long enough to forget what it feels like. I'm firmly settled into my cushy Capital Region life again and have forgotten what it feels like to be a Boston college student. I remember being so ready to come home at the end of last semester and now fear on some level that this entire semester will feel that way. I remember the shitty heating pipes pounding against my wall and the menagerie of small annoyances that come with them. I remember the long waits at the T in the frigid cold. But most of all, I remember being alone and dread returning to that feeling. I've got a fresh start with fresh classes. I know the city better, and know some of the people better. There will be things I miss from last semester, like the Fan Favorites movies at the Loews every Thursday nigh. There will hopefully be new joys that I have yet to discover. The one fact that makes it not seem again overwhelming is the fact that this semester the weather will get better and better, the days longer and longer. And instead of building towards a month off, I'm building towards four months off. And when I come back next year it will be a whole new ballgame. Lets see what Boston holds for me.
posted by Adam at 01:05 |
January 09, 2006
World Spins Madly OnLooking at my life a bit, I find that it's stagnant enough to seem shrinking instead of even remaining constant. Remaining at a constant level requires atleast enough growth to counter-balance the lost inherent in a world of change. I'm trying a variety of different things to try and grow a bit. I've reconnected with several old high school buddies; some have disappointed, some have been a lot of fun and even more cool than the first time I knew them. I have agreed to hang out with some people I wouldn't have previously associated with. I owed my best friend a Serenity screening, and knowing that his sister was already a fan, invited her along as well. The result was a night with a different dynamic and the discovery of a personality that is somehow intelligent, funny, and yet still soft-spoken. Another friend returned for across the Atlantic and we have a day of fun in several shades. Regardless of whether the switch-up was a positive experience, I got to grow and experience - I took in just a little bit more of the world and got just a little bit more out of it. The more risks I take the more I grow as a person.
On another note, I wanted to quote Roger Ebert's fantastic My Fair Lady because it is a flawless summary one of the truly great films:"What distinguishes "My Fair Lady" above all is that it actually says something. It says it in a film of pointed words, unforgettable music and glorious images, but it says it. Bernard Shaw's "Pygmalion" was a socialist attack on the British class system, and on the truth (as true when the film was made as when Shaw wrote his play) that an Englishman's destiny was largely determined by his accent. It allowed others to place him, and to keep him in his place."
posted by Adam at 01:51 |
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Adam Freelance Film Critic
Albany, NY
Boston, MA
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